The Niger in Mali, a photo from Tombouctou, North

Photographer's Note

Three more photos today from Dir�, a small town in northern Mali.

Today's photos were all taken near the town's small port on the Niger river. This was very close to the municipal hostel, "le campement", where I spent two nights in February 1982. There seemed to be a "campement" in every Malian provincial town, sometimes being the only accommodation available. Most of them were just awfully simple, some were quite decent and comfortable (but never luxurious).

The campement in Dir� was extremely simple, but not really awful. There were no facilities at all, so nothing could be expected. Just a room with a tin roof and a tin "window". No extra charge for various flying insects. Buckets of water were provided from a well.

The town center, where there was a small restaurant, was only a few hundred meters away. Going there I walked along the bank of the mighty Niger river, where photo opportunities were available. There were always people doing their laundry or hopping on or off pirogues, simple boats going to nearby villages or occasionally making long journeys to distant towns. While in Mopti, much further south, I had considered going by pirogue to Dir�, but the schedules were so vague that I dropped the idea. I never regretted that.

Two photos of mainly pirogues can be seen in the WS. All photos were scanned from Kodachrome slides.

pajaran, ikeharel, Fis2, pierrefonds, jhm, Royaldevon, jean113, tyro, PiotrF, PaulVDV, alvaraalto, worldcitizen, adramad has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ifege (46951) 2020-07-06 0:25

Hi Gert
I'll have to come back to see the workshops but this is certainly a great view of daily life along the great river.
cheers
Ian

pajaran (114915) 2020-07-06 0:28

Greeting.
Interesting view and moment, good work by scanning the slide, nicely shown with good perspective and beautiful colors, well captured moment. beautiful photos in the workshop and memories.
I wish you all the best.
Paja.

Fis2 (169731) 2020-07-06 1:10

Witaj Gert!
A very curious place.
Fine scene from daily life.
Good framing and colors.
Excellent reportage shot.
Nice new week.
Greetings.
Krzysztof

Silvio1953 (220605) 2020-07-06 1:42

Ciao Gert, nice scene with a lot of children and lovely boats, wonderful colors, excellent clarity and splendid light, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

pierrefonds (113590) 2020-07-06 4:40

Hi Gert,

You have captured well a daily life scene. The point of view is showing the details of the boats. The light is bringing out the colours. Have a nice day.

Pierre

jhm (211734) 2020-07-06 5:57

Hello Gert,

** First: thank you very much to say the date of my camera was one day too late. I had this never seen, everything now oke, I'am happy to have a good friend**

What a nice daily life picture with the disher boats and much people activety.
An excellent composition, good presentation too.
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

Royaldevon (85606) 2020-07-06 6:07

Hello Gert,

Whilst your w/s show us fine details of the Niger and the pirogues which sail on it, this main photograph is alive with interesting, daily life details.

The children seem to be equally involved in clothes washing but that isn't really surprising because all the children that I have met love to mess around in water!

Some ladies are carrying the washing on their heads, whilst another uses the container as a seat!

It's a very 'normal', everyday scene, of daily life, nothing special but so different from the daily life, river scenes you would record in Western Europe!
The composition is lovely, nicely angled with the children taking precedence.

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

jean113 (27637) 2020-07-06 10:47

Hello Gert, I am not quite sure what the two boys in the foreground are doing, they seem to have a long piece of cloth between them; it's going to take some cleaning as it is trailing in the mud!
This is a particularly interesting picture, there is so much going one.
I wonder if life has changed here very much?
All three pictures give a real flavour of life close to the river in 1982.
Thanks for sharing, kind regards, Jean.

Miguel82 (47110) 2020-07-06 12:17

Gert, the Niger brings water and life in that arid region of northern Mali. It is a gathering point for the population. It concentrates the activity in Dir�. The people are waiting for goods coming by boat, are washing their dishes, doing laundry, collecting water in buckets. An exotic daily life scene. Fine colors, good sharpness, regards.

jmdias (114278) 2020-07-06 12:48

gert

the main post looks like a romantic painting from 1600's to 1800's...each personage is well presented here. I liked the other two images too, the boast are impressive. nice note and details.

take care

jorge

Tue (91574) 2020-07-06 13:49

Hej Gert,
Det ser meget travlt ud ved floden med mange mennesker og bn og de forskellige b蘚e i flere strelser. De mange brune farver danner en god kontrast med det bl� vand og den bl� himmel. Nogle mennskers t giver nogle mere inefaldende farver.
Lars

tyro (30513) 2020-07-06 15:51

Hello Gert,

Another fine group of photographs from Dir� and I think your main one just has to be my favourite as there is so much going on in it and so many things and people to see and examine in detail. And there's plenty of detail and colour too.

Your two workshop images are of much quieter scenes and I am very impressed by the very considerable size of the larger pirogues - these are not merely dug out of tree trunks but obviously represent many hours of skilful hard work of dedicated boat builders. As I mentioned before, the only pirogues I have ever seen were either paddled or had a small and quite simple sail - so did these very large ones have engines of some sort to propel them?

Of course, an interesting note and your three images are again of excellent quality.

Wonderful!

Kind Regards,

John.

PiotrF (54246) 2020-07-06 16:02

Hello Gert
An interesting picture from Mali, nice daily life scene from this place.
A very nice photo from your archive.I like informative notes good composition and good quality.
Good work, fine presentation
Regards
Piotr

mcmtanyel (67657) 2020-07-06 21:18

Hello Gert,
Thank you for the welcome. It's good to be with friends.
This is a lovely, authentic scene from the Niger River. The slides have been preserved so well and the scan is so good that it looks like it was originally digital. 👍🏻👍🏻
Regards,
MT

emka (157280) 2020-07-06 23:50

Hello Gert, Fantastic picture. The Workshops are nice also but it is obvious that this one with the people's activities is the best. Always interesting to see how creative are the people with their boats. The river is very wide here like I saw the rivers in Senegal or Gambia. Wouldn't it be an experience to go by such a pirogue? Probably I would like to try.

Have a nice day

MAlgo

GyurMaster (24668) 2020-07-07 6:33

Dear Gert,

All three photos would have sell as a main upload, WS 2 for example as an excellent and spectacular landscape photo. But if I had to decide, I would have made the same decision: the main upload is simply amazing with its colours and all the people, including the two boys playing in the fg. Another shot that I can imagine on the cover of a 1982 NG!

Best Wishes,
Gy

lousat (138609) 2020-07-07 15:41

Hi Gert,3 beautiful memories of your trip always in Mali but in a different scenery,great watch of daily life scene on the river beach and 2 nice compositions too in the WS,top quality of work with scanner! Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

PaulVDV (62802) 2020-07-08 5:58

Hello Gert,
I find it curious. But especially in the second photo in the WS and also in the main photo we see that all the greenery grows at a reasonable distance from the river.
It may be sandbanks that we see on the shores. Perhaps the river is much wider at other times of the year. Either nothing grows there anymore due to the intensive use of the banks.
Travelling by pirogue looks quite uncomfortable. But that was also the case in the 1990s on the Mekong in Laos, a friend told me.
Your main photo is a beautiful testimony of a daily life-scene. Nobody seems to notice your presence.
Best regards, Paul

alvaraalto (42804) 2020-07-10 2:56

Hello Gert,
When I see your beautiful pictures of this journey through Africa in 1982, I keep wondering what these places look like now.
I often have the impression that the African people are still not really taken seriously by the Western world and often not by their leaders.
If somewhere the slogan 釘lack lives matters� should apply then it is in Africa.
Excellent presentation
Have a good weekend. Be careful and stay safe, Rob

worldcitizen (15956) 2020-07-11 13:39

Hello Gert,
Nice daily life scene. What looks exotic to me is just the usual for these residents. Thanks for introducing us to northern Mali. I feel like I'm also walking by the shore...

kasianowak (17672) 2020-07-12 10:54

Wonderful image of bustling life by the river. Like in a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, there is lots to look at here, all the tiny details making up the mosaic of everyday life. The WS uploads complement the main image well.

adramad (72562) 2020-07-20 5:26

Hi Gert.
Magnificent image that shows us the authentic atmosphere of any day on this curious pier in Niger, the boats are rustic and with a personal touch, many people, some seem busy, others look, the boys seem to play, a little noise.
Good color, and light management and sharpness, in such an old photo.
Very well done. My congratulations.
All the best and have a good start to the week.
Luis.

ikeharel (112439) 2020-12-27 8:05

Hello Gert,
Three pictures with daily life action along one of the biggest rivers in the world.
This river is a life-line to those who living around it.
Rightly chosen the main post, vibrant scene, full of details and sharp outcome.
Good evening,
Ike